News

Man shot and killed near Richmond BART station

By Katie Nelson Contra Costa Times

Posted:
03/14/2013 06:43:23 PM PDT

Updated:
03/15/2013 08:43:24 AM PDT

Click photo to enlarge

Police officers search for evidence at the scene of a fatal shooting at the Richmond BART station near the McDonald Avenue entrance on Thursday, March 14, 2013 in Richmond, Calif. The shooting occurred shortly after 6 p.m. A witness reported seeing two males approach the subject near the stairs of the station. The two men then shot the victim and ran west towards Nevin Avenue. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Staff)

RICHMOND -- A body covered in a yellow tarp remained untouched late Thursday as police continued searching for suspects in the fatal shooting of a man outside the Richmond BART station earlier in the evening.

The victim, a man in his 30s, was found shot at the top of the stairs at the 19th Street and Macdonald Avenue entrance to the station. He was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after he was found. His name and city of residence were not immediately available.

No one else was injured.

BART and Richmond police were called to the station shortly after shots were fired about 6:05 p.m.

Police continued to canvas the parking lot near the body for clues, but no one has been arrested, and a motive is not known.

According to police, one or two men ran away from the station after the victim was shot. Police were working to obtain descriptions of the suspects.

Susie Garcia, a Richmond resident who was returning from a prayer gathering for the city's last homicide victim, Lincoln Plair, said she heard three shots at the BART station.

Her roommate, who declined to give his name for fear of retribution, said he saw two men shoot the victim before running down Nevin Avenue and disappearing.

"I am sick of this," Garcia said as she watched investigators, once asking if they could name the man under the yellow tarp. "I am worried for my friends, and I am worried for my son. I am sick of this."

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The shooting occurred during the peak of the afternoon commute, but BART did not report any service interruptions as a result of the investigation.

The killing is the third in Richmond this year, although the latest case is in BART's jurisdiction, according to Richmond police spokeswoman Lt. Bisa French.

It is the first homicide in the city since March 4, when 21-year-old Plair was fatally shot while mowing lawns in the Iron Triangle.

Richmond's first homicide of 2013 occurred Feb. 4. The city recorded 18 killings in 2012, one of its least-deadly years since 2001.